1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to ball bearing rails, and particularly to a ball bearing rail assembly having simple retention devices for ball bearings.
2. Related Art
Rails have been widely used in many fields. For example, servers are slidably mounted to server racks using rail assemblies. Also, drawers are slidably attached to cabinets using rail assemblies.
Among a variety of widely used rail assemblies, ball bearing rails have been found to be durable and reliable. TW patent publication No. 499905 discloses a ball bearing drawer rail assembly. The drawer rail assembly comprises a first slide member attached to a cabinet, a second slide member attached to a drawer, and two ball retention modules disposed between the first and second slide members. Each ball retention module comprises a flat retention frame, and a plurality of ball bearings movably held in the retention frame. The first and second slide members both slidably engage with the ball bearings, such that the drawer can be slid into and out of the cabinet.
In the above-described drawer rail assembly, the ball retention module is separate from the slide members. A separate mold for the ball retention module is required. Therefore, associated design and manufacturing costs are inflated. In addition, the separate ball retention module makes the structure of the drawer rail assembly unduly complicated.
Thus an improved ball bearing rail assembly which overcomes the above-mentioned problems is desired.